The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor released a scathing report yesterday, detailing an investigation that found the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office failed to return money to over 900 inmates upon their release, following a troubling pattern that spanned from November 2009 through April 2024, the uncovered sum totaling $19,272 left unreturned to its rightful owners.
According to the OSA’s report, the process that should have seen to the return of deposited funds, money which inmates are meant to receive back following their release, was grossly mishandled, and State Auditor Dave Boliek says, "As a result of this investigation and what our team found and reported on, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office has taken steps to rectify the wrong that’s been done," further adding in a gesture of proactive reform, "I’ve also reached out to the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association to offer my office’s assistance to sheriffs across the state; together, we’ll be working on best practices to help make sure this issue doesn’t occur elsewhere."
Disturbingly, the investigation also exposed an unsupported balance within the inmate fund bank account growing to a staggering $354,804 from 2021 through 2024, the sheriff's office in question asserts that steps have been taken to significantly reduce this balance, yet, the diligence of the OSA demands the necessity for further cooperation between the sheriff's office and the Buncombe County Finance Department to fully resolve these financial discrepancies.
In the wake of these findings, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office has communicated that individuals owed money have been pinpointed and efforts are currently underway to reach out to them; a spokesperson from the sheriff's office told the OSA "those who are owed money have been identified and are being contacted," a statement which underlines a commitment to resolve the issue while perhaps understating the gravity of an oversight that deprived former inmates of what was rightfully theirs after already serving their time behind bars.
